Taking on the Charanjit Singh Channi government to task for turning a blind eye on security concerns at the border with Pakistan, former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday warned there was “something very wrong and dangerous happening at the borders”, which the state could ill-afford to ignore.
He also trashed allegations that the BSF would take over the state’s administration or will be deployed in the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir in Amritsar and said such misconceptions were being spread by certain people to score brownie points in the run-up to the assembly elections. “The BSF is here for helping maintain national security as we are a border state,” he said, calling for full support by the state to the Centre in the interest of national security.
Amarinder said he was not an alarmist, but his 10 years of experience in the Army and 9.5 years as home minister of the state, told him that “something is going to happen.”
“Yet a home minister who has been in his chair for one month claims to know more than me!” he quipped, taking a dig at his once-loyal aide Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
“Sleeper cells of Pakistan’s intelligence with, the ISI, and Khalistani forces are creating trouble, technology is becoming more advanced. The capacity and range of drones are increasing, first, they came in just 5-6 km from the border, now they reach 31 km,” he pointed out. “We have to be very careful of the clandestine war from across the borders,” he added.
While the Punjab Police was a first-class and well-trained force, they were, however, not trained to combat threats emanating from Pakistan, the former chief minister said, asserting that they need the help of the BSF and the CRPF to tackle the problem.
Amarinder reminded that the Army had helped Punjab during the days of terrorism and “nobody took over the state government’s job”. He said the BSF’s assistance was essential to maintaining peace in Punjab and ensuring the people did not suffer.
